harry reid. he has declined to say whether he backs the most contentious rule in the package and assault weapons ban. >> a device exploded inside a restaurant in virginia. police are not sure if the device was thrown at the business or planted inside. >> they do know that it did detonate inside the business. friends of the business owners say that the sub shop has been vandalized several months ago and recently the remodeling was complete. now is boarded up on the outside and torn apart inside. when the day began, no one expected the lorton sub shop would look like this by afternoon. >> this woman, who does not want to give her name, is a close friend of the shop owner, a man badly burned after the explosion. >> i just want to know that he is going>> witnesses reported hearing a loud bang just before 10:30 this morning. firefighters were on the scene within minutes. >> there was a building on fire as well. >> after putting out the fire and rushing the victim to a burn unit in d.c. investigators along with k-9 units began piecing together what happened. a so-called incendiary devi

, harry reid even went so far as to scare republicans into advances hagel's nomination. >> if is shocking that my republican colleagues would leave the nation without a fully empowered secretary of defense. considering all of the things we have going on the world. lou: gathering, curious, concerned and amused looks, we have a defense secretary, he is none other than. the soon to be outgoing defense secretary leon panetta who has fledged he will remain in the job until his successor is sworn to office. republicans chose to block hagel's confirmation until they get awers from the white house on the president's role and his action during the benghazi terrorist attack on september 11 last year, yielding some what to that pressure today, the white house for the first time revealed in a letter that the president did not personally ask the libyan government for help. and acknowledged he relied on then secretary of state hillary clinton, to reach out on his behalf. that is a revelation that outraged senators lindsey graham. >> the president of united states did not make any phone calls to any gov

embarrassing display of disregard of our national security. senator harry reid expressing his frustration but no ex broke of support or promise of a another come first may be of hagel. to assess the is the situationw kt mcfarland, and dr. walid phares. senator harry reid suggestions that republican parties throwing national security to the wind. >> bologna, there have been plenty of times when u.s. has been without the secretary of defense. usually what happens is deputy secretary of defense is the acting secretary of defense, a good guy, he could be acting, are other thing, panetta has not left yet, that is bologna. that is not the argument. the fact is that two reasons that senators are opposing hagel. one is lindsay graham, and senator iaot have real questions about benghazi, and the other hand senator has questions about hagel. both of those together, are causing real problem, and a lot of the wounded on hagel are self inflicted. lou: and waleed as you read that letter from white house revealing, that the president did not contact anyone in the libyan government, that he r

filibuster stance of weeks past. the majority leader harry reid took to the floor of the last hour to make this impassioned plea. >> in less than two hours, our country will be without a secretary of defense. there is never in the history of the country been a filibuster of a defense secretary nominee. never. but it's shocking that my republican colleagues would leave the nation without a fully empowered secretary of defense. >> debate on chuck hagel is not over. i am going to fight the idea of jamming somebody through. i'm going to hit you and keep hitting you. >> every republican there voted against moving the hagel nomination out of committee. there has to be a reason for that. why is it we're having to rush in to the confirmation. >> so just two days after the president's call to action to congress on gun control, nra ceo wayne lapierre is expected to give his decision on the state of the union tonight. hold on to your hats, it's going to be a doozy. he writes hurricanes, tornadoes, riots, terrorists, gangs, lone criminals, these are perils we are sure to face, not just maybe, it's not

nominated chuck hagel as replacement. harry reid is pressing for a full vote. he is ask for people serving as early as the first. they will move to movie he theaters, and the ability to fly on defense department aircraft. >>> this morning, government experts will discuss the high speed rail program. it is a three day summit filled with visionaries who will be reviewing the plan that lasts from 2015 to 2030 and from san diego to san francisco. >>> time now 4:46 let's take another look at traffic with sal. are you looking at it? >> yes, there are no major problems through there and traffic looks good, it looks like a little bit of roadwork. coming from oakland to san francisco, it looks good 4:47 let's go to steve. there is still an on shore breeze which is not that strong but yesterday we had definitely 50s and 50s yesterday at half- moon bay fairfield 31 and yesterday at this time they had a north went and they were 31 yet there is still a component and an on shore breeze and you get the point there is a little more fog. we have some upper 60s and today more upper 50s and low-to- m

policy center. we showed there harry reid talking this morning from the floor. i want to show this what harry reid is describing what's going on in our nation's capital. >> this isn't high school. getting ready for a football game. or some play being produced in high school. we're trying to confirm somebody to run the defenses of our country. >> you said you would be a no vote on hagel. if so, why? >> yes, anyone that saw the confirmation hearing knows that chuck hagel's presentation was weak and wobbly. and democrats are very embarrassed by this nominee, but they feel committed to have to stand with the president in spite of the fact they're not very happy with the choice either. we have just asked for some additional legitimate answers to questions about income of chuck hagel. some speeches he's given. so we say let's just delay the vote a week until we get back from the president's weekend and come back and then vote at that time when we get this additional information. >> so you're comfortable with panetta stepping down and the country not having a secretary of defense? >> well, tha

little bit of that problem. let's move on to harry reid because harry reid has been asked about gun patrol. control. he has been asked by george stephanopoulos. and here's what he had to say about it. >> would you vote for it? >> i didn't vote for the assault weapons last time because it didn't make sense but i'll take a look at it. >> now here is the important thing to remember about harry reid. he's facing a little bit of a conundrum because there is what is good for the country and what his constituents in nevada wants. and of course in nevada they're very much pro gun. and he is very much pro gun himself. it is very unlikely that he's well to support an assault weapons ban. but he was also talking about background checks. let's hear what he said about that. >> everyone acknowledged that we should have universal background checks. i support the second amendment but you can do things like that. >> michael, what are your thoughts. do you think harry reid will take the lead on gun control? >> i don't think he'll take the lead, but he's the smartest politician out there. i don't have

on whether they were going to kill fill buster or not or at least reform it. harry reid said i made a deal with mcconnell it's going to be ok. the republicans aren't going to filibuster. dick durbin said at the time: cenk: positive environment, the republicans aren't going to filibuster anymore. they got a deal, so we didn't have to take it away. what happened today when senator hagel, a republican up for secretary of defense? the republicans filibustered. >> on this vote, the aye58 the nays 40, one senator announced present. 50% of the senators not having voted in the affirmative, the motion is not agreed to. cenk: even though 58 senators say yes let's end the debate and confirm him nope, not going to end the debate, because the republicans filibustering. now harry reid is shocked to find out that the republicans were not true to their word! >> the republicans have made an unfortunate choice to up the level here in washington. just when you thought things couldn't get worse, it gets worse. we need this vote today. why? times like this, it's nice to have a secretary of defense. cenk

issues forward are not there anymore. you have harry reid running the place. he can do what he wants, whenever he wants. his lieutenants, they run the place as well and they're extremely partisan. but bottom line is people need to understand they can pretty much do anything they want because they're in the majority party. the only tools republicans have are to slow things down, law for full -- allow for full and fair debate and an open vote. they file bills, move for closure. and then try to ram it through. that's now how we should legislate. especially now. >> neil: nothing seems to change. >> you're right. >> neil: he's going to keep ramming through executive orders and spending. republicans argue they're not going to allow it. >> listen, you're right. he says he wants to reach across the aisle. you have senators like susan colins and others who are hopeful we'll get things done and work in a bipartisan manner then if it does it go the administration's way, he says we'll do it through check executive order. we need to work together as americans and find consensus and work on things

three. i don't think you can trust -- >> senate majority leader harry reid says he hopes gun legislation will come out of the judiciary committee but he was noncommittal over whether he would sign an assault weapons ban. >> would you vote for it? >> frankly, she knows, i haven't read her amendment, i didn't vote for the assault weapons last time because it didn't make sense but i'll take a look at it. >> i will bring in "washington post" columnist ruth marcus and senior staff writer for "the hill" alex bolton. good monday morning to both of you. ruth, this is the president's first big sell to the american people. what do you think he needs to say here? >> well, the president said he was going to give it everything he's got. i think what he needs to say is look, don't listen to the nra, listen to logic or listen to the nra from a number of years ago when it supported universal background checks. i think that there are three issues here in order of likelihood. one is background checks which has huge support and makes complete sense. one is limits on magazine sizes which i compl

this. "i haven't had a valentine's day budget in four years." from harry reid. and from vice president biden, "today's three letter word -- l-o-v-e." we now know the recession and the euro zone is getting worse, not better. that cannot be good news for the u.s., actually. senior foreign affairs correspondent greg palkot has the story from london. >> the latest figure shows euro zone falling deeper in recession. >> europe is spluttering, stuttering and having a terrible time. >> effectively a double dip recession. some of the hardest hit country were debt-plagued spain and italy. france was sluggish. growth in germany down .6%. slow growth in economic powerhouse germany is especially worrying. the weakness is hurting the german exports. adding to economic headache, strike of security workers for higher pay snarled airports in germany today. >> he said is up it. even if i suffer for it. further come pounding problems debt-ridden countries are saddled with high unemployment. the jobless rate in greece is record 27%. i come here all the time. there are no jobs. economists say the

vote for ending the debate over hagel and hold a vote on his confirmation. that left harry reid with just 59 of the 60 votes needed to move on to confirmation marking the first ever successful filibuster of a cabinet nominee. because of the coming senate recess, the next chance to confirm hagel will be the last week of february. in the meantime, republicans continued to find new reasons to justify they are obstruction. senator john mccain's latest gripe is personal. >> there's a lot of ill will towards senator hagel because when he was republican, he attacked president bush mercilessly. at one point said he was the worst president since herbert hoover, said that the surge was the worst blunder since the vietnam war, which is nonsense. and was very amti his own party and his own people. people don't forget that. >> people also don't forget that years after hagel's republican herecy, john mccane said this of the man in 2006. i would be honored to have chuck with me in any capacity. he'd make a great secretary of state. people have also not forgotten that this filibuster has nothing to

have had certain issues with certain bills. it will be tough for harry reid and the senate's. these are issues that will come over here at some point. don't you think it will hold up the process if he is having trouble on these issues? >> the process was designed to be inefficient and difficult so that, if congress were able to move a bill through both houses, they could agree upon a bill, it would actually become law. and so, at the start of every session, there is always a number of issues that carry from the prior session. frankly, there's a lot of scar tissue that carries over with a lot of these bills. it is up to congress to figure out where the common ground is. and how to deal with it. >> what does this mean for your party politically if the sequestered goes through? >> let me make clear, i don't like the sequester. ax. -- i think it will be like taking a meat ax to our government. the president did not want to have to deal with the debt limit again before his reelection. it was the president and senate democrats committed with us to get an outcome from the super committee.

abused the way it is. they came up with instead a very, very weak answer. harry reid caved into the republicans on this, i hate to say it. sol many democrats were saying this is going to be fine because now, we all agree that you need 60. we didn't get rid of it. they can use it. they don't have to come to the floor and talk at that talk, but it's going to work. it's going to work because republicans have greedp agreed they will filibuster for stuff that's really important. when harry reid and mitch mcconnell agree this is really worth it. damn if, we said at the time this was phony, it was not going to work, it was not going to make any change. republicans were going to abuse it. they would never abide by that agreement. two weeks ago. republicans trotted it out yesterday, put a filibuster on the nomination of chuck hagel to be our next secretary of defense, and they won. you need 60 votes to get over it. and the most they could get with the democrats and four republicans was 58 votes t he lost by one vote. harry reid ended up having to vote no. that way, by voting know he has the

majority leader harry reid cuttings off debate, calling for lawmakers to make a decision. now republicans are threatening to block that vote saying they have some unanswered questions. a few of them spoke with our mike emanuel, chief congressional correspondent. first start off with what harry reid, the top democrat in the senate is saying about all this. this morning he was quite emotional about what is going on. till us about that. >> reporter: jenna, that's right. harry reid has 55 democrats in the senate who would vote to move forward with the chuck hagel nomination, confirmation process. the bottom line though he needs 60. so he needs five republicans to come along to get past that procedural hurdle. he doesn't have those five. so harry reid is frustrated. >> mr. president, in less than two hours our country will be without a secretary of defense at a time when we have a war going on in afghanistan, and about 70,000 troops there. we have a nuclear weapon was detonated in north korea. >> reporter: a nuclear test was done in north korea and 66,000 troops in afghanistan but

secretary. congratulations, harry reid, you built this. barack obama killed osama bin laden so republicans are killing the post office. thom hartmann joins us on that. republicans are still fighting each other. it is like a civil war with the south fighting the south. and eliot spitzer is with us tonight which is historic because you know conan's not going on jay. today is the birthday of carl bernstein, florence henderson is 79. also the birthday of keller and somewhere, somehow jimmy hoffa is celebrating his 100th birthday. we celebrate valentine's day to publicly demonstrate your affection with crap. this is "viewpoint." >> john: good evening, i'm john fuglesang. coming up, another state moves a big step closer to approving american equality and another conservative moves a big step closer to having a heart attack over it. bp pays billions in fines for the gulf oil spill then gets billions more in government contracts. lindsey graham announce he will continue to block lady gaga's tour until she provides more answers about benefit -- benghazi. >>> starting with the senate and majority le

background legislation and calling that a win. on abc over the weekend, harry reid pointedly would not commit to supporting an assault weapons ban. >> i didn't vote for the assault weapons last time because it didn't make sense but i'll take a look at it. i think everyone acknowledges we should do some background checks. >> reid said the senate would move the bill through the judiciary committee, it's unlikely to include a gun ban. though reid has said california senator dianne feinstein will have an opportunity to present the provision as an amendment once the bill reaches the senate floor. remember there's a whole bunch of red tape democrats want to actively cascade a vote against the assault weapons ban so they can show they are pro-gun. >> the super bowl ad new york city mayor's group ran in the d.c. market focused on one part of the gun control bills and that's the background check, one pointing out the nra at one time supported closing the gun show loophole. >> we think it's reasonable to provide mandatory, instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show, no l

. >> ifill: senate majority leader harry reid shot back. >> i think he should understand who is sitting on their pose tear i don't remember. we're doing our here to pass something. and the reason he's not bringing up something over there is because he can't pass it. he can't get his caucus to agree on anything. >> ifill: but republican senator roy blunt of missouri said democrats have to face facts. >> the spending cuts are going to happen. and the option now for the president is, do you want to work for a different way for these same savings to be achieved? and that's very do-able. >> ifill: friday is not the last deadline. another one looms in late march when government funding runs out. for more on whether political paralysis in washington is spilling over onto the economy, we turn to nariman behravesh, chief economist for i.h.s., a research and forecasting firm. we have heard in the last couple of days, weeks, surveys, polls that show that a lot of americans to the extent they're following this story do think there's a problem here with this so-called sequester but they don't necessari

from up there. what do we know? harry reid was on the floor today talking about it. we know that he needs five republicans to break, and there is a distinction between those who might be willing to vote for cloture to break the filibuster, but would still plan to vote against him when he would only at that point need just 50 to be confirmed, 51 to be confirmed. >> there is a lot of drama in this, andrea, and it gets complicated. it does come down to that. there are many more republicans that would beotology in the first step support ending the debate, taking the actual vote and then voting against hagel because everyone knows he already has publicly enough votes to be confirmed. we're in this period now where the drama is unfolding over a couple of key things. a group of republicans want information on two subjects. part of that coming from hagel related to past speeches, financial details, that they feel they did not get enough of during his confirmation process and the hearing where many people even his supporters say he did not perform well. in separate from that there are a grou

transgender americans. there will be a vote that harry reid promised three years ago. that is not a reason to wait. when the do-nothing congress stalls the president should take action to do right by the american people. in this case saving taxpayer money from being wasted on discrimination. >> john: tico, i'm amazed that in 2013 we have to have this kind of conversation on this kind of debate. the president has been reluctant to sign this order saying he prefer congress act on the nondiscrimination act. i hate to beat up on harry reid more than i already have this month, but let me do that right now. why do you think harry reid is refusing to bring this to the floor to vote. >> it's been three years since harry reid promised he would bring that to the floor to vote hasn't stated a reason. i don't know what the reason is, and no one can explain it, but the good news out of the white house position on the executive order is that they point to the senate, they point to the house and say they should act. we say we agree. we would love for the white house legislative team to lobby aggressively

will be let free by budget cuts and instead reach out to harry reid who did not get a call from the president to push him to pass one or two house republican plans to stop the sequester. cantor declaring, "house republicans have acted and time for the democrats to join us." time to get out the campaign trail and get to work. show us what spending reductions you prefer and let's find common ground. in the tit-for-tat fight, carney brought out charts on the president's plan to cut spending and turn it to republicans. >> there will be jobs on the line if the sequester takes place and the president will as he continues to do call on the republicans in congress to agree to avoid sequester. it is a wholly unnecessary uninflicted would on the economy if it were to take place. >> there were others like howard dean suggesting the president should let the sequester happen. to slice the pentagon's budget. dean telling the huffington post i'm in favor of the sequester. it's tough on things i care about a lot but the fact of the matter is you are not going to get another chance to cut the defens

what the passes out of the senate, it's almost nothing. yet, folks are always wanting us to lead harry reid. look, we've tried 60 ways to sundown and, you know, i don't know what they got going on over at the senate, but i wish they would get together with the president, pass what they think they can pass, and then we would be glad to take a look at it. we've certainly shown -- >> you know as well as i do they're not going to be able to pass anything with 60 votes. they may be able to pass some things with 50, 52, 53 votes. they won't be able to pass anything with 60 votes, and should that be the marker on something like this? is this such an important -- >> for sure. >> -- thing it should take 60? that 41 -- >> no. i'm saying what should be the marker is the senate ought to be able to pass something. look, for better or for worse, the president -- >> so senate republicans need to get involved in this? >> no, what i'm saying is they need to work it out over there. i'm not going to tell the senate how to do their business, but they -- where br they start looking for us to lead them we'v

houses and both parties. so that's mitch mcconnell, harry reid, nancy pelosi and john boehner. in response i think to the number of democrats and the first lady bringing victims of gun violence with them as guests to the state of the union this year, to highlight that issue, one republican member of congress this year has decided to do his part to advance the serious consideration of gun violence and lawful gun ownership in america by inviting as his guest for the state of the union this gentleman. >> mr. ted nugent is a musician. i believe he is still mostly known for "cat scratch fever", but i could be wrong. he was investigated by the secret service last year after telling an nra convention in april of 2012, quote, if barack obama is elected, i'll either be dead or in jail this time next year." texas congressman steve stockman has invited ted nugent to be his guest for the state of the union. but if you think about what he got in trouble for with the secret service last year, barack obama's elected i'll either be dead or in jail this time next year, if you think about that, giv

do it >> when we just had this. to watch harry reid complain about it is much. he had a chance to do something and he bailed. he had an agreement with mitch mcconnell. he have this 60 vote rule. >> reforming the filibuster in a way that the rules we're saying this is the ten dansy there is nothing to interrupt this ten dansy right now. it is hard for me to be sympathetic to harry reid when he says oh my god look at these people abusing it when you had a chance to do something about it and he didn't. >> and they replaced him with a crazier senator ted cruz. but the right way for john mccain to have expressed his outrage would have been with a different vote today. rather than supporting the crazy cruz side of this argument. this guy claims to be a friend of chuck haegle. he is allowing this undignified process to go forward and participating in it. it is ugly and bad for his long-term image. >> running the pentagon is a hard job. it is one of the largest workforces in the world. there are strong centers of p power in that building. none of that has been litigated at all. i know they t

silent on this issue in terms of where they are going. harry reid, look at the number of democrats up for re-election. the president has to get his own party's house in order before they can proceed to get a political victory. >> interesting. speaking of harry reid, i want to play a clip from him. he's asked if he would vote for dianne feinstein's plan. >> i didn't vote for assault weapons last time because it didn't make sense. i'll take a look at it. >> restrictions on high capacity magazines? >> i think it's something we have to look at. >> take a look or vote for? >> let's see what it is. i have been supported by the nra on occasion. i know wayne lapierre. he's been extremely pleasant with me. we have a good relationship. i am not here to demean the organization. >> if the democratic senate majority cannot give a full support, how will it pass in. >> a couple things. harry reid along with a number of democrats and republicans, and there are plenty of republican that is have been quiet on this as well. politically speaking, they are taking a step back, waiting to let it fight itsel

or down simple majority vote planned by harry reid, so tomorrow the majority leader has scheduled a cloture vote, or if we go to the rule video, the only procedure by which the senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill or other matter and thereby overcome a filibuster. the procedure requires 60 votes, so now democrats will need support from 60 senators just to overcome the filibuster and schedule a vote on chuck hagel. >> there has never in the history of the country been a filibuster of a defense secretary nominee. never. chuck hagel had nothing to do with the attack in benghazi. is that something they need to have on their resume? i filibustered one of the president's nominees. is that what they want? >> senator john mccain who once said he would oppose a filibuster of hagel because it would set "a bad precedent" is changing his tune. he tells "foreign policy magazine" my position right now is that i want an answer to the question. that question totally unrelated to chuck hagel as defense secretary is what president obama was doing during the benghazi attack

still wrangling over chuck hagel's confirmation for defense secretary, but this morning harry reid does in the have the 60 votes to overcome a republican filibuster. he needs five republican votes but so far he only has two, mike johanns of nebraska and thad cochrane of mississippi. so he took his colleagues to task in his own soft-spoken way. >> it's tragic that they've decided to filibuster this qualified nominee. it is really unfortunate. >> michael: you know, reid is of course not totally off the hook. he didn't push filibuster reform through earlier this year even though it looked like he had the chance to do so. but the ludicrous part of this whole thing is the reason why republicans are giving for opposing hagel is bengahzi. that this was a cover up after the ambassador was killed. they're alleging that chuck hagel was involved. not only is that a stretch but chuck hagel oversee something like this. they dignified the response. after both lindsey graham and john mccain said they were largely satisfied according to the hill, but they still wanted to push the hagueel vote back. in

reevaluate its approval of those batteries. >>> fact checkers, they call it on harry reid and a famous pianist tries to get old creatures to act young again. the grapevine is next. ♪ ♪ >>. >> chris: and now fresh picking from the political grapevine. fact check.org found harry reid was wrong by claiming, quote. that the american people need to understand it's nothing not as if we have done nothing for the debt. $2.6 trillion already we've made in cuts. all those cuts have come from non-defense programs. the fact check organization says only $1.4 trillion have the deficit reduction was in spending cuts. the rest came from tax hikes. >>> a seven-year-old colorado boy has been suspended from cool for lobbing an imaginary grenade in order to save the planet. he did not threaten anyone but violated the school's list of absolutes which forbids weapons real or pretend. his mother doesn't think it's realistic important second graders but the school district tells the herald newspaper the story is more complicated than being portrayed. >> finally as the associated press puts it, no wonder t

, and the reason why it was 58 was because majority leader harry reid had to switch his vote to know to bring the vote back up again after the senate comes back from recess. you have a lot of republican senators who said as recently as last week that they did not want to see the choice filibuster. even if they wanted to vote no, he at least deserved an uptown vote to be approved. there was no precedent -- precedent to filibuster president's choice like this. the republicans decided they wanted to try to use this vote as a way to extract more information from the white house on the issues like the terrorist attack on benghazi in september. they submitted to passing hagel when they come back. it way you're looking at, is delaying the inevitable. chuck hagel will be confirmed as defense secretary. he is just going to get to wait 11 days. to me, it seems like you should confirm him, because you're going to confirm him anyway. it is just another delay in what the senate is trying to do. harry reid set a new vote for tuesday, in 11 days. what do republicans want to see in the meantime? gue

why he thinks senate majority leader harry reid needs to get to work on guns. >>> the boy scouts are getting ready to end their policy of discrimination against gays, and the president is standing with them. >> should scouting be open to gays? >> yes. >> i'll tell you how conservatives are fighting the process. >>> it's the super bowl commercial everybody is talking about. >> god looked down on his planned paradise and said i need a caretaker. so god made a farmer. >> god created the family farmer. i'll tell you how republicans are destroying them. all that plus e.j. dionne, karen finney and jonathan alter on why conservatives are actually trying to blame the super bowl blackout on the president. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. there is a major development on gun legislation today, but there is a good chance you haven't heard about it. president obama continued the push for commonsense gun reform today in minneapolis. he was surrounded by law enforcement officers with the city and the state. the president asked americans to stand with the men and women i

steam on capitol hill. senate majority leader harry reid said he expects a bill will soon move to the senate floor. the package will include a universal background check, a capacity limit on ammunition magazines, and improvements to record-keeping on mental illness. a universal background check is in sight. this is probably what they're really going to get. advocacy groups are trying to build momentum. last night, this ad from mayors against illegal guns aired during the super bowl. >> the nra once supported background checks. >> we think it's reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show. no loopholes anywhere for anyone. >> america can do this. for us. >> opponents of a background check rely on fearmongering. nra chief wayne lapierre spread ridiculous lies on fox news sunday. >> what they'll do is they'll turn this universal check on the law abiding into a universal registry of law-abiding people. and law-abiding people don't want that. >> well, law-abiding people want a universal background check system. more than nine in ten gu

again by demanding the speaker -- actually harry reid from nevada come up with 60 votes to move forward the vote. and senator rand paul put a hold on president obama's pick. joining me now is salon's joan walsh and washington post's dana milbank. they can't beat these people so they're doing this obstructing. they're trying to smear this guy. they know he's going to be secretary of defense. there is absolutely no purpose in what cruz is doing except trying to move he's more obnoxious than neocons are. they're just messing around with the government of the united states, i think. >> they're messing around in a particularly ugly way. i mean, ted cruz, this is ugly stuff, chris. and the good news for marco rubio is he makes rubio look like a statesman. and john mccain god bless him is rising to the occasion. and i haven't had many nice things to say about mccain in the last few years. it is separating out the attack dogs and the really vicious people from the people who are merely obstructionists. anyway, marco rubio missed a big moment last night. it's not about the drink of water. it com